Drabble Collection
by FSULinz
Summary: A collection of shorts based on various prompts
1. The Letter

Henry sighed as he pulled back the covers off of the bed. It was going to be a long week without her, he thought as he looked to her side of the bed. He sighed as he saw her lotion, a miscellaneous pair of her glasses, and her various other trinkets she kept by the bed- he wasn't sure what half of them were for.

Elizabeth had left this morning for a week long summit in Brussels, and had been holed up all week at the office in preparation for her trip. She just left, and he already missed her like crazy. He knew the kids did, too.  
"Why did we get these again?" He mumbled to himself as he haphazardly threw the big decorative pillows on the floor.

That's when something under the last pillow on her side of the bed caught his eye. He crawled on the bed over to her side. As he lifted the pillow to investigate, a wide smile came across his entire face. She is amazing, he thought to himself.

Underneath the pillow lay her glasses and a piece of paper, neatly folded with her unmistakable handwriting.

Henry,  
I'm so sorry that we weren't able to spend much time together before I left. I will make it up to you with a proper date night when I return. Only a week. Keep my glasses safe until I get back.

I love you,  
Elizabeth.

Henry held up the letter and inhaled the remnants of her crisp perfume and lavender lotion that lingered on the page. It was going to be a long week, but they were going to get through it. 


	2. No Heels

"Good night, guys" Elizabeth nodded at her DS agents as they shut the door behind her. A thud rang through the entry way as she dropped her bag and kicked off her heels, the discarded bag stopped them from rolling across the floor.

Three days. Elizabeth had spent the last three days with her staff, holed up in her office dealing with one crisis after another. Sometimes she felt she spent more time with them than her own family. The whole endeavor had been deflating, and it felt so good to be home at a decent hour. Elizabeth was exhausted, but so glad she'd be able to see Henry and the kids before everyone went to sleep. She couldn't wait to climb into bed herself, but she would try to be present with the kids and Henry; at least for a little while before she ran out of steam.

Elizabeth's ears perked up at the jubilant sound of her family's boisterous voices, and she followed it toward the kitchen. She leaned against the doorframe, taking in the scene. All three of her children were sitting at the table with their father, erupting into fits of laughter at a story someone just told. Smiling at the scene, she wished she would have gotten there thirty seconds sooner to hear the punchline.

Henry took a swig of his beer as he jokingly shook his head in disbelief at the story Alison just told the family. Elizabeth took in his facial expressions as he listened to their daughter's story. She was so lucky to have him in her life.

Ah, the drama and peril of young adulthood- to be that young again, Henry thought to himself as he leaned forward, elbows on the table, continuing to listen to Alison, Stevie and Jason tell stories about their day. His mind wandered to Elizabeth. He and the kids missed her when she wasn't able to come home. They had texted earlier and she thought she was finally going to be able to get away from the office tonight. Elizabeth should be home soon, he thought to himself. It had been quiet at the house this week. The kids had all had busy weeks and hadn't been home much. He had taken the opportunity of everyone being home tonight to cook dinner. Everyone except Elizabeth. He sighed to himself and looked up at the clock to look at the time. She should be...

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen watching them. A wide smile lit up his face as he realized she was finally home.

"Hey babe!" He beamed as he jumped up from his chair to greet her.

"Mom! Hi!" All three of her children joyfully shouted in unison as they saw their mother in the doorway of the kitchen.

They watched as their father greeted her.

"I missed you" he whispered into her ear as he enveloped her in a hug.

Still holding on to each other, she pulled back to take him in. God, I miss them so much when I'm gone, Elizabeth thought to herself as she felt her husband's arms around her. "I missed you, too," she smiled at him as she leaned up to greet him.

Yet another reason to despise those heels. She loved their height difference when she wasn't wearing her heels. After almost 30 years, she loved being able to reach up on her tip-toes and kiss him. They shared a sweet moment before she leaned around him to greet her children.

"Hi guys! I need to know all about your weeks!" She beamed, still holding on to Henry as long as she could as she walked toward the cabinet to find a wine glass.

She was thankful for her sudden second wind as she sat down at the table with her wine, listening to her children as Henry sat a plate of lasagna in front of her. 

Elizabeth ate and listened to her children tell her about their weeks. How were they all so grown up? Weren't they just dropping Jason off for kindergarten like, yesterday? She poured herself some more wine and finished the last few bites of her lasagna. Her eyes took in each of her children sitting around the table. They could be doing so many other things, but they chose to be sitting around their table with their parents and actually talking. Henry, who had positioned himself in the seat next to her, reached under the table, grabbed her hand and began to rhythmically run his thumb back and forth over her hand.

One by one, the kids bid their good nights to their parents as they retreated to their rooms to study and Elizabeth was sure, in Jason's case, to play video games. After all the kids had disappeared upstairs, Henry stood and took her plate, heading toward the sink to finish the dinner dishes. Elizabeth followed him to the sink, and they fell into their usual after dinner routine, washing the dinner dishes in silence. They finished loading the dishwasher and washed and dried the extra dishes, touching hips and brushing hands. Henry reached behind her, wanting to grab a towel from the other side of the sink. Instead of picking up the towel, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and placed a kiss to her hair. "I'm so glad you were able to come home tonight." Drying her hands, she turned to face him so he could kiss her properly. "Me too. You want to know something? I love not wearing heels standing next to you. Because I get to do this", she smiled, reaching up to kiss her husband.

Henry let out a laugh at her confession. "Well, in that case, maybe it's time to ditch the heels altogether?" he joked, letting her go to wipe down the counter with the towel he grabbed earlier. "Come on, babe, you look exhausted. Let's go to bed". Henry draped his arm around his wife's shoulder, and led her upstairs. Stifling a yawn, Elizabeth grasped his hand resting on her shoulder and kissed it as they walked up the stairs together.

Yep, she really liked not wearing heels.


	3. It's Hot

Madam Secretary Prompt: It's too hot for anything but a sheet when Elizabeth goes to bed, but it cools substantially over the night, and that makes Henry's warm embrace that much more welcome. (Or vice versa). (lilacmermaid Tumblr prompt)

"God, it is so hot in this house!" Elizabeth said to Henry as she climbed into bed. She was so over this week. Having finished brushing his teeth, Henry walked out of the bathroom to join his wife in bed.

The perils of home ownership. They had only been in their new house for a month when they discovered the air conditioning had broken. Elizabeth had walked into a stifling hot house yesterday. This week had been particularly trying at work and had not been in the mood to deal with a major appliance breaking. At seven months pregnant, Elizabeth was completely miserable. They had left the windows open in their room and the ceiling fans were going, but it was not helping. The late August air was still incredibly oppressive, even at ten at night. She lifted her head to fix her pillows. With a heavy sigh she repositioned her head on her pillow, placing her arms underneath it.

"This is pointless. I'm never going to get comfortable," she thought to herself as she kicked her covers off after a few minutes of trying to sleep. The baby and the heat were making it virtually impossible, even though she was absolutely drained from work and the broken air conditioning.

"Babe? You ok?" Henry could hear his wife trying to get comfortable. He was having trouble sleeping in the heat; he couldn't imagine how uncomfortable she must feel. He hoped a rainstorm would cool them down during the night, and was so grateful that a repairman was coming tomorrow to look at the air conditioning unit.

"It's so hot" Elizabeth's voice was filled with frustration. She paused. "I'm sorry. I know complaining isn't going to magically fix the air conditioner"

Henry turned over in bed to face his wife. "No, and I'm sorry. Hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow." He placed a kiss on her shoulder.

Elizabeth reached up and removed Henry's hand from her upper arm. "It's too hot, Henry." She sighed.

"Good night babe," Henry said as he turned around and closed his eyes, trying not to be hurt at her rejection. He knew it was the heat talking, and he hoped it would cool off soon.

Elizabeth was spent and finally succumbed to sleep, despite the temperature of their bedroom. While they were sleeping, a mid-night rain shower came through and Elizabeth subconsciously grabbed more blankets to cover herself. The rain was cooling everything down in the darkness of the early morning hours.

Henry shivered as he stepped back into the bedroom after using the bathroom. He smelled the rain in the air as it wafted in from the windows. Walking over to the window near Elizabeth's side of the bed to partly close the window, he took a second to look at his wife. The moonlight streaming in from the open window onto her face. She might not have felt beautiful at 7 months pregnant, but she definitely was. He realized she was struggling subconsciously to pull the blanket over her to stay warm. Henry grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over her. Walking back over to his side of the bed, he pulled the blanket over himself and nestled up to Elizabeth, wrapping his arm around her middle. He smiled as Elizabeth sighed in her sleep and pulled his arm tighter around her as he fell back asleep.

Elizabeth's alarm blared a few hours later. As she slowly awoke, it took her a minute to realize she now had a blanket on her and Henry curled up to her, slowly stirring himself.

Elizabeth turned her head to see Henry's face pressed against her shoulder. After reaching over to turn off her alarm, she sunk back into Henry's arms and turned her head to place a kiss on his hair. "Good morning handsome," she said as she placed her hands on Henry's to extricate herself from him. She carefully pulled herself up to a sitting position on the bed. "I gotta get in the shower, Henry. Thank you for keeping me warm" She said as she made her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day, thankful for the early-morning thunderstorm that had allowed her to sleep.


	4. Snorkel

My contribution to the drabble challenge "It's always so fucking tight for me!"

Henry looked up from his book, sunglasses perched on his nose, watching Elizabeth walking up the beach, mask and snorkel in hand. They had picked the perfect pre-presidential announcement vacation. He was so glad they had still been able to come. Henry admired the view around him- an amazing rental house with a pristine quiet, calm secluded cove. It was heaven.

Elizabeth placed her mask and snorkel in the bag at the end of her lounger, sitting down facing Henry.

"Hey babe, how was it?" Henry asked, sitting his book down in his lap.

"Gosh, Henry. The water is fantastic!" Elizabeth gushed. "It's absolutely incredible. I've never seen water this clear! It's breathtaking. You need to see it! I would hate we spent all this time on this magnificent island and you didn't even snorkel!" Henry could tell Elizabeth's excitement in her voice as she spoke, leaning over and grabbing his thigh as she animatedly described her view under the surface of the ocean.

"Maybe tomorrow babe. Truth be told, I'm quite content sitting here reading, wading in the water and watching you," Henry smiled at her.

Henry saw a mischievous smile come across Elizabeth's face, and he knew she was up to something.

Elizabeth shot up off of her lounger and grabbed Henry's hand. "Come on! If you're not going to go snorkeling with me, at least come swimming! We're in Anguilla!" She took off running toward the water, Henry following behind.

Later that night, Elizabeth and Henry were cuddled up on the couch in the living room of their rental house, reading books and drinking wine after dinner.

Elizabeth felt guilty. She had been slightly annoyed at Henry since he had declined her invitation to go snorkeling with her earlier today. Suddenly, she sat up, setting her book on the table and taking a sip of wine, she turned to face Henry.

"Babe, you should have seen the water today! It was amazing! I saw the most gorgeous fish I have ever seen, and the coral and is like a magazine! I understand you don't want to scuba dive, but I thought you said you would snorkel with me? You went with me on our first day! I was hoping this would be something we could do together." She took a sip of wine and waited for Henry's answer.

Elizabeth looked up at Henry, who had been studying her intently as she pleaded her case for him to join her snorkeling adventures. Henry figured she was bothered by the fact that he hadn't gone snorkeling with her earlier today. Even though Henry couldn't bring himself to scuba dive, he promised her on the plane to the island he would go snorkeling with her. With snorkeling, at least he could breathe fresh air, and he wasn't completely submersed in the giant fishbowl.

Henry sighed. "I'm sorry babe, I tried. I did."

"So, what's wrong? I'm not mad, I had just been hoping this was something we could enjoy together here." Elizabeth quizzed, leaning back on the couch, wine glass still in hand.

Henry sighed. "I just can't get over the mask, babe. It's always so fucking tight for me!" He looked at her, wondering what her reaction would be to his confession.

Elizabeth studied Henry as she listened to his explanation.

Suddenly, she doubled over in laughter, having enough forethought to set her wine glass down on the coffee table before it spilled.

It took a minute for her to get it together enough to finally speak. She sat up and looked at Henry, still laughing. "Henry, sweetheart, it's supposed to be tight! How do you think water stays out of it?"


End file.
